Bottle holder



Nov. 13, 1951 E. JONES 2,575,056

BOTTLE HOLDER Filed Dec. 27, 1947 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. I Eyn on (161125 BY E. JONES BOTTLE HOLDER Nov. 13, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 27, 1947 INVENTOR. fynon Jone s BY NOV. 13, 195] JONES 2,575,056

BOTTLE HOLDER I Filed Dec. 27, 1947 3 Sheeis-Sheet 3 'INVENTOR. Eyrzon Jones BY Patented Nov. 13, 1951 BOTTLE HOLDER l Eynon Jones, Portland, Oregn, assignor of onethird. to Elton A. Everhart, Molalla, Oreg.

Application December 27, 1947, Serial No. 794,166

My invention relates to the feeding of youn calves, and has particular relation to the provision of a feeding bottle by which a calf may feed itself without requiring an attendant. At the present time, it is the customary practice to place milk in a pail and require the calf to suck it into its mouth. This is unnatural and has been the cause of a large percentage of deaths in young calves which thus either do not receive enough food, because of the unnatural method of feeding, or'else draw quantities of milk into. their lungs.

The object of my invention is attained by arranging a feeding bottle, with a nipple thereon, upon a resilient bracket which holds the bottle and said nipple at a convenient angle. The resiliency of the bracket and the arrangement of the nipple on the bottle permits a. calf to "bunti it without injury to itself, and a properly controlled flow of milk is provided under conditions simulating the natural feeding of a calf.

A further object of my invention is to provide a feeding device of this character in which specially prepared formulae of food may be fed to a calf, which is thus in some respects superior to natural suckling. I

A further object of my invention is to provide a feeding device in which a milk bottle of standard size may be used, which may be releasably held in a resilient bracket with a nipple seated 1 Claim. (01. 248 103) therein constituting a stopper for said bottle,

which nipple also guards the mouth of the bottle to prevent injury to the calf.

A further and more specific object of my invention is to provide a bracket for a feeding device of this character in which a bottle may easily and quickly be inserted and removed, so that minimum time is required of an attendant in feeding said calves.

A further and important object of my invention is to provide a nipple in a feeding device which seats tightly in and prevents leakage from a standard milk bottle. Said nipple has an annular skirt which elastically seats within the smooth throat of such bottle to prevent said nipple from being pulled inadvertently therefrom, which guards the mouth of the bottle, provides a resilient bumper to prevent injury to a calf, and one in which a check valve is arranged so that natural feeding is simulated. That is, said check valve permits the easy flow of milk from the bottle into the teat portion of the nipple but restricts reverse flow thereof, thus permitting the milk within the teat portion of the nipple to be withdrawn by a suckling calf in a natural manner. 1

Further and other details of my invention are hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. l is an elevation through a feeding device embodying my invention, shown mounted upon a vertical support;

Fig. 2 is an elevation of the bottle and nipple portion of said feeding device, parts of each being shown in section to show details of construction;

Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line 3--3 in Fig. 1 through the rear clamp surrounding the body of a milk bottle adjacent the base thereof;

Fig. 4 is a section through the forward clamp engaging'the neck of the bottle, the clamping device being shown seated in full lines and detached in broken lines;

Fig. 5 is a more or less diagrammatic illustration of the manner in which a calf feeds from said device, and illustrates the manner in which the resilient character of the bracket permits the feeding device to be moved about to simulate the natural suckling by a calf;

' Fig. 6 is an elevation of a modified type of bracket embodying my invention; and

Fig. '7 is a fragmentary elevation of the neck portion of a bottle with a nipple seated therein, said nipple having a check valve structure mounted therein.

A feeding device embodying my invention comprises a bracket-like holder 1, which is adapted to be fastened to a vertical member 2, such, for example, as a feeding stall, post, or other type of support. Said holder comprises a base portion 3 and an elongated bottle holding portion-4. Said parts are arranged so as to make an oblique angle with respect to each other, as is illustrated in Fig. 5, and are preferably mounted on said vertical support at a height corresponding to the height of a cowsudder. A bottle 5 is releasably held in the bottle holding portion, preferably at points spaced quite widely apart. To this end, a pair of straddling clips 6 encompass the body of the bottle at a point near the base thereof, and an encompassing clamping means I encircles the neck of the bottle adjacent the mouth thereof. Said clamping means 1 comprises a pair of upstanding arms m|b, which are joined at their upper or free ends by a pivoted latch 8. One end 8a of said latch is formed into an enlarged ball or trunnion and the other end 81) is threaded. The end 8a is held within a slotted ear 1c at the extremity of the arm lb, and said ear is turned back sufficiently so that said end 8a can not be detached therefrom. Upon the threaded end 8?) of said latch is a slidable ball 9 and a wing nut material I !l 2, which are quite elastic. They are.

joined at their ends and overlie the clips 6 and the encompassing clamping means 1. That is to say, said clips 6 lie between said strips 1 ll2, as does the body of the clamping means, and said portions are joined together by rivets I3'i3a, respectively, at said points. Between sa d rivets and. between the rivet l3 and the base portion 3, said strips are unsecured, and, being elastic, permit substantial yielding, and aiiord substantial resiliency, so that said bottle is supported quite flexibly and does not constitute a rigid bodydissimilar to a cows udder. I deemthis quite important because a calf, in suckling, normally bunts' the cow's udder, and the resiliency of the mounting for said bottle afiords a similar' condie tion which yields.

I have shown the bottle 5 as a more or less standard form of milk bottle. I deem this 'struc ture desirable because milk bottles are common in connection with the dairy industry, and thus may easily be replaced. Such a milk bottle has a base 5a, a body 5b,'a neck 50, with a relatively smooth throat 5d. At the mouth 5e thereof, a recess 5; is formed, normally used for receiving a removable paper lid or cap. Surrounding said mouth is a rim 59, which provides a smooth surface and one which is reinforced so as to p're vent breaking or chipping at said point.

In the mouth of such a bottle, I arrange a nipple'element l4, having an annular skirt'l5 which extends a substantial distance within the smooth throat of the neck of said bottle, as is illustrated in Fig. 2. Said skirt is relatively thickwalled and elastically engages said throat. That i is to say, said skirt preferably is slightly larger than the diameter of said throat so that it must be wedged in place, and said wedging tends to prevent the inadvertent removal thereof, as when a calf is feeding. The marginal edge of said skirt is formed into a relatively sharp edge I 5a so that milk will flow from the bottle into the nipple with minimum restriction. The teat por tion !6 isrelatively thin-walled and flexible, and the extremity thereof is provided with an aper ture I1, preferably in the form of a slit, through which milk may be sucked by a calf l8. Said slitted aperture normally lies with its edges pressed tightly together so that said aperture is closed, and it is opened by a calfs sucking and by the distortion of said thin walled teat portion of the nipple.

Lying intermediate said skirt and said teat portion is a relatively thick-walled flange IQ, of sufficient diameter to overlie substantially the rim 5g of the bottle. As is shown in Fig. 2, it is spaced somewhat from said rim, and inasmuch as said nipple is made of rubber or other elastic material, said flange may yield and spring, and thus provides a buffer between the oalfs mouth and the rim portion of the bottle. Lyin intermediate said flange and the skirt is a shoulder 20, which seats tightly in the recess 5) in said bottle and provides a seal, with the skirt, to prevent milk from flowing from the bottle at the 4 point of joinder of said nipple with the mouth of the bottle.

As has been pointed out, the feeding device depends obliquely from the vertical wall and extends outwardly therefrom, and thus milk within the bottle tends to flow by gravity into the nipple, or it may be sucked by a calf in the normal and usualway, When a bottle is to be removed from the holder, this may be done by swinging the latch upwardly as is illustrated in dotted outline in Fig. 4, having first backed off the wing nut and disengaged the ball from the forked arm 7a of the clamping means. The bottle may then be removed laterally, because the clamping means and the-straddling clips flex quite easily. That is, said parts extend a substantial distance about the milk bottle, as is shown in Figs. 3 and 4, but they are resilent and will spread to permit the bottle to be removed and another placed therein.

If the clips and the clamping means are made of relatively stiff material, the latch may be eliminated.

In Figs. 6 and 7, I have illustrated a modification of my invention in which a bottle 2| may be inserted within two encompassing bands 22-23. The encompassing 'band 22 extends about the neck 2la of the bottle, and the encompassing band 23- encircles the body 251) thereof adjacent the base Me of said bottle. Said bands are welded or riveted to a relatively springy base 24, which follows generally the contour of the body of the bottle, and has a laterally formed end 2 3a which may be slidably wedged into a looped holder'25, fastened to a vertical support 26. As

in the other embodiment, the base 24 makes an oblique angle with the downturned end 24a, held within the looped holder, so that the bottle with a nipple 21 thereon may depend downwardly at an oblique angle from said vertical support. A prolongation of the plane of end 24a would pass closely by the adjacent edge of the base 2lc of the bottle, and thus said base lies alongside the vertical support 26, which limits the endwise movement of the bottle in the holder. The encompassing band 22 about the neck has an inturned flange 22a, which overlies and engages a' lateral flange 27a on said nipple. As in the previous. embodiment, said flange 21a on the nipple overlies the mouth 2|b of the bottle. Said flange 22a prevents the movement of said bottle and said nipple downwardly, and said flange also aids in preventing the inadvertent unstoppering of said bottle by the nipple by'the sucking action of the calf.

The nipple in this modification is substantially the same as in the previous embodiment, and has a shoulder 271), which seats tightly within the recess formed in the normal milk bottle, for holding a removable lid or cap, and has an annular skirt 210 which elastically engages the smooth throat 2| of the milk bottle. Lying within the bore of said annular skirt are a pair of discs 2fl '-29, which are spaced apart and lie at opposite sides of a, spherical valve 30. The disc 28 has a central aperture 28a therein, and the disc 29 has a series of marginal apertures 29a. The ball may seat in and close the central aperture 28a in the disc 28, and, when thus seated, prevents the flow of liquid from the nipple into the bottle. Said valve never seats in the marginal apertures 29a and thus they are always uncovered to permit flow therethrough. Said valve thus functions as a check valve topermit flow from the-bottle into the nipple at all times, but when reverse flow from the nipple into the bottle occurs, said valve is forced upwardly to close the central aperture 280, and to prevent said reverse flow. This is frequently encountered when a suckling calf collapses the thin-walled teat section of a nipple. This places the milk therein under compression, and it tends to flow either out through the slitted aperture 2'Ie or tends to be forced back into the bottle. Said check valve prevents the latter and thus insures that substantially all milk entrapped within the nipple may be withdrawn by the suckling calf.

Said discs are relatively stiff, and thus aid the elasticity of the skirt in maintaining a tight seal of said skirt within the smooth .throat of said bottle. That is, said discs brace said skirt and tend to prevent the collapse or distortion thereof, which might result under severe action.

The base 24 is quite flexible, and thus the bottle is resiliently mounted so that there is no rigid portion of the feeding device which would not yield under the bunting of said feeding device by a suckling calf. Said flange 21a on the nipple, and the encompassing band and its flange, also tend to shield the mouth of the bottle from the mouth of a suckling calf, and thus injury is prevented.

I claim:

A bottle holder, comprising a pair of resilient, flat strips arranged flatwise directly adjacent one another and having first and second coinciding terminal ends, the first coinciding terminal ends of said strips being fixed together in face-to-face abutment and being disposed at an oblique angle to the remainder thereof to define a base portion, a resilient bottle neck encircling clamp having two semicircular arm portions terminating in bent portions and forming one-half of a two- 6 piece latch means, means on one of said bent portions engageable with said other bent portion and constituting the other half of said latch means for interlocking the ends of said arms one with another to define a closed circle, the second coinciding terminal ends of said flat strips being fixed together in face-to-face abutment against the opposite sides of said neck clamp intermediate the clamp ends, and a resilient bottle base encircling clamp having a pair of flexible, semicircular straddling clips, the terminal ends of said straddling clips being spaced apart slightly to define less than a full encircling clamp thereby to accommodate the insertion of a bottle, the medial portions of said flat strips being fixed together in face-to-face abutment against the opposite side of said base clamp intermediate the ends thereof.

EYNON JONES.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

